A Desire To Serve
“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28)
Years ago, I was studying today’s key Scripture passage. In the middle of preparing a sermon message, I prayed this prayer, “Lord, would you teach me what it means to be a servant, in Jesus’ name? Amen.” As soon as I finished my prayer, the phone rang in my study. It was early in the morning, about seven o'clock. I knew I needed to answer the phone. It was my wife, Ginger, on the other end of the phone and she said, “I have changed my last diaper!”
I immediately thought to myself several things. The first one was that if she is through changing diapers, that meant I would be the one who would have to change the diapers moving forward. That was a horrible thought!
The other thing I thought was she has just run out of diapers. That was exactly what had happened. She had changed her last diaper. There were no more diapers in the house. Following that statement of horror, she said, “I need you to go to the store right now and buy diapers.” I responded and said, “Ginger, do you realize what I'm doing right now? I'm trying to study for a sermon.” She said, “You have got to go right now! We are getting ready to have a disaster on our hands in our house, and you will be responsible for that disaster. I need you to go now.” I said, “Yes, ma'am,” and I immediately left the study.
As I was driving to the store to buy diapers, I realized that God had just answered the very prayer that I had just prayed. He was literally saying that service must come out of a transformed nature. It cuts against our grain, and it cuts against what we want to do. But because of love and the nature that God has given us in Christ, we will have the desire to serve.
Do you have a desire to serve? Or do you struggle with wanting to help others when they reach out? If the latter is true for you, I would encourage you to pray and ask God to change the posture of your heart and bend it towards service so that you can show others the love of Jesus by the way you serve them.
Years ago, I was studying today’s key Scripture passage. In the middle of preparing a sermon message, I prayed this prayer, “Lord, would you teach me what it means to be a servant, in Jesus’ name? Amen.” As soon as I finished my prayer, the phone rang in my study. It was early in the morning, about seven o'clock. I knew I needed to answer the phone. It was my wife, Ginger, on the other end of the phone and she said, “I have changed my last diaper!”
I immediately thought to myself several things. The first one was that if she is through changing diapers, that meant I would be the one who would have to change the diapers moving forward. That was a horrible thought!
The other thing I thought was she has just run out of diapers. That was exactly what had happened. She had changed her last diaper. There were no more diapers in the house. Following that statement of horror, she said, “I need you to go to the store right now and buy diapers.” I responded and said, “Ginger, do you realize what I'm doing right now? I'm trying to study for a sermon.” She said, “You have got to go right now! We are getting ready to have a disaster on our hands in our house, and you will be responsible for that disaster. I need you to go now.” I said, “Yes, ma'am,” and I immediately left the study.
As I was driving to the store to buy diapers, I realized that God had just answered the very prayer that I had just prayed. He was literally saying that service must come out of a transformed nature. It cuts against our grain, and it cuts against what we want to do. But because of love and the nature that God has given us in Christ, we will have the desire to serve.
Do you have a desire to serve? Or do you struggle with wanting to help others when they reach out? If the latter is true for you, I would encourage you to pray and ask God to change the posture of your heart and bend it towards service so that you can show others the love of Jesus by the way you serve them.
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3 Comments
OUCH!
I have to ask myself if I am personally really ready to pray that prayer and drop what I am doing to respond to His call... whatever it may be.
I have prayed that prayer. I serve in different ways. I know one can never run out of ways to serve.
It's in the giving where you find Jesus, not the taking.